One possible explanation is that the 4.4 version number is comming from scripts devs (e.g. dblaney or jerad) running the latest scripts 4.x code which is what will become 4.4 at some point in the future and already has a 4.4 version number.

Jonathan Wilson aka Jonwil
Creator and Lead Coder of the Custom scripts.dll
Renegade Engine Guru
Creator and Lead Coder of TT.DLL
Official member of Tiberian Technologies